2012-11-21
2012-11-29
x obama

STATION
MSNBCW 23
CNNW 13
CSPAN2 2
KGO (ABC) 2
KPIX (CBS) 2
KQED (PBS) 2
CSPAN 1
KNTV (NBC) 1
KQEH (KQED Plus) 1
KRCB (PBS) 1
LANGUAGE
English 64

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, and kelly ayott, all had vowed to block her nomination after what she said about the deadly attack on americans on n benghazi, libya. here's what graham said moments ago when the meeting came to a close. >> if you don't know what happened, just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and you can say i don't want to give bad information. here's what i can tell you -- the american people got bad information on 16, september. they got bad information from president obama days after. and the question is should they have been giving the information at all. if you can do nothing but give bad information, isn't it better to give no information at all? >> ah. let's go straight to cnn's dana bash. so before we heard that pretty explosive news conference, it seemed as though there was a bit of a softening of some of the gop's opposition to ms. rice's moving up in the president's cabinet. now after hearing that, i need to get some clarity if i can from you about whether the criticism is about ms. rice and what she delivered to the american people, which turn

director mike morrell met with john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte over what rice knew the in the days after the deadly consulate attack in benghazi. all three claim to be more troubled after this meeting. >> we're significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16th september explanation about how four americans died by ambassador rice, i think, does not do justice to the reality at the time. >> clearly the impression that was begin, the information begin to the american people was wrong. in fact, ambassador rice said today, absolutely, it was wrong. >> and within the past hour the white house once again defended ambassador rice. >> focus on some might say obsession made on comments made on sunday shows seems, to me, and to many, to be misplaced. >> and the ambassador herself made this statement only a short time ago. it read in part, quote, i appreciated the opportunity to discuss these issues directly and structurive wi them. the administration remains committed t

graham and ayotte say they're going to put a hold on ambassador rice if, in fact, she's nominated to be the secretary of state, they're going to put a hold on her, even though there's no direct responsibility, direct knowledge, and no accusation of direct knowledge by her on any of these matters, and she's saying what, in effect, she was told to say by the intelligence community. yet we're told that democrats are ready to fight. a democratic aide tells nbc news, this is getting people's back up. the general sense of mood is this is ridiculous. she's obviously qualified. no one on our side thinks there's any substance whatsoever to the republican criticisms. the aide also questioned whether republicans, besides mccain, graham and ayotte would think this was a smart fight to pick. after all, it would be a high-profile fight with a qualified african-american woman. >> and she's not just qualified. she is supremely well qualified. she has tremendous experience. she's been enormously successful with her work at the u.n. we were able to marshal some of the most significant sanctions on

as the white house had hoped. senators mccain, ayotte and graham say they have more questions than they had before rice's comments about benghazi. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get it. >> if you don't know what happened just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and you can say i don't want to give bad information. >> that's troubling to me as well, why she wouldn't have asked, i'm the person that doesn't know anything about this, i'm going on every single show. >> joining me now for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor managing editor of post politics.com and our own nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. well, this was pretty tense. chris, first to you. you've seen a lot of confirmation battles. this really did seem like an escalation, a warning shot. >> maybe they come out of this and say, look, we still kind of disagree with the way this played out but the explanations that ambassador rice gave us helped us understand. instead, what we got coming out of it was, as you p

cain and lindsay graham and kelly ayotte could hardly have gone worse. they were more inflamed about rice's early public comments about the benghazi, libya attack than they had been before that meeting. cnn's dana bash has been watching all of this prenomination confrontation drama and joins us now to talk about this. i know you're trying to wrangle an interview and make sure you catch the senators as they emerge from the meetings. dana, it might sound to some as though some of the critics of ambassador rice feel differently about what they're criticizing. they don't all seem to be in lock step or at least have the same complaints. >> reporter: that's true. no question that there are different levels of issues that senators are upset about. i have to tell you the reason i'm on the phone now is because i'm waiting for a very important meeting that susan rice is having as we speak to wrap up and that is with senator susan collins. why is it important? because if she is nominated to be secretary of state and assuming that the republicans she met with yesterday stand by their desire to block her nomi

cain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte criticized explanations rice given in the past and obviously today and on the attack in benghazi the meeting doesn't appear to help smooth away for rice's widely anticipated nomination as secretary of state. here is senator ayotte moments ago ago. >> when you have a position where your ambassador to the united nations you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparations and responsibilities for that job and that is troubling to me. jenna: kelly wright, live in washington with more. kelly, the three senators just held the news briefing which we played a little bit from kelly ayotte. tell us generally what was their response? what sort of reaction they had to what they heard inside that closed-door meeting? >> reporter: let's stay on focus on that because that is really telling. each senator saw the tone being stunned by the information they heard in this closed-door meeting with u.n. ambassador susan rice. they are significantly troubled they say, more than that ever, which means there are more questions than answers as a result o

mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte. she will be back up there today to meet with other senators. the deadline from yesterday's meetings is that those three are still not satisfied. kelly ayotte says she will try to block the conversation of susan rice or another nominee to succeed the departing secretary of state clinton until more information is given on the benghazi attacks in libya. also, france to go in favor of bid.tinians's u.n. the french government said it would vote in favor of the palestinians ' bid of non- member status. how would you fix your school system? we have a couple minutes left. larry in jackson, mississippi, independent. caller: good morning. newly appointed superintendent, i met with yesterday. we have 30,000 students and 2000 are homeless. 70% of our schools in the city, i visited alternative schools where we had the bus driver and security guards running the alternative schools. we have teachers who are failing these students and failed those students' parents and grandparents. they've been in the school system's 25 for 30 years. we accept this. we fired

ayotte and their crusade against susan rice yesterday. dave writes in -- >> bill: yesterday. it has been on-going. >> yesterday they put themselves out in front of the camera again. dave says mccain and graham have backed themselves into a corner. if they back off now, they would lose more face than they already have. pat says mccain, graham, shut your damn mouths. quit compromising american security. >> yes. >> honey bear kelly who has the best name on twitter says -- we were saying one of the issues -- >> bill: is that honey bear kelly ayotte? >> no. not honey bear kelly ayotte. we were saying one of the issues would be if obama was to appoint john kerry then scott brown might weasel his way back into the senate. honey bear kelly says scott brown just lost an election. does anyone think he can win one now? that's a valid point. he's a loser. >> bill: what do you think of the campaign against susan rice? >> i have found it incredibly offensive. you are talking about a rhodes scholar, somebody who has 20

. we are hearing it did not. lindsey graham, senator mccain and kelly ayotte said they are more concerned than before she came up to capitol hill to offer her explanation, and her changing story, not just her changing story but that of the administration. we are awaiting press secretary jay karen see and a comment on today's meeting. the conventional wisdom is they sent her up there to smooth over the waters before president obama nominates her. but they did not take miss rice's answers too well. >> i want to say i'm more troubled today knowing, having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice, because it is certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al-qaida were involved in the attack on the embassy, and clearly the impression that was given and the information given to the american people was wrong. megyn: senator kelly ae ayotte will join us live next hour. this will be her first public interview since she sat down with miss rice this morning. what exactly did ambassador rice say behind closed doors? why is senator yea a yeah at

lindsey graham, kelly ayotte and -- >> they were upset. john mccain over the weekend. >> john mccain backed up. >> so it's really cool when she said i'm sorry. >> she did the brave thing and went right in there and said i want to -- >> how did that work. >> and talked about her initial account of the attack and explained to them she was relying on faulty intelligence and talking points from the intelligence community. >> they said? >> they said, you know what, we still don't get it. >> throw the video. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. it is clear that the information that she gave the american people was incorrect. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> if you don't know what happened just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and i want to say -- >> i'm more troubled today knowing having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice. clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people was wrong, in fact, ambassad

harshest gop critics. those senators, john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte, were not satisfied, they said, with the ambassador's explanation for her comments following the benghazi consulate attack. cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott has more details for us. she's in washington, d.c. this morning. elise, good morning. >> hey, soledad. well, what came out in those meetings and why senators say they're even more concerned, centers around the information that the cia had just after the attack about possible involvement in the benghazi attack that killed ambassador chris stevens and those three other americans. now, ambassador rice did not make reference to this information in her talk show appearances. the unclassified talking points she used were provided by the cia, were stripped of these references to al qaeda, because the information was classified and couldn't be delivered in public. now, after the meeting, ambassador rice acknowledged those talking points turned out to be incorrect. but that she stressed she and the administration never meant to mislead the american p

cain, ayotte and graham who criticized her original comments on the deadly benghazi attacks. i picture the conversation between the president and rice going like this. we want you as secretary of state, so go make nice. answer their questions so they stop attacking you and threatening to block your possible nomination. yeah, so how did that work out? >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. it is clear that the information that she gave the american public was incorrect. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before with a little bit of inquiry and curiosity, i think it would be pretty clear that to explain this episode as related to a video that created a mob that turned into a riot was far afield. if you can do nothing but give bad information, isn't it better to give no information at all? >> i'm more troubled today. just to be clear, when you have a position where you're ambassador to the united nations, you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparation and responsibilities for that job. that'

there was a no love loss between senators graham, mccain and ayotte. vis-a-vis the u.s./u.n. ambassador. were you surprised susan collins went into a new line of attacks specifically indicting susan rice in the kenyan embassy attacks in the late '90 snz. >> yes. it was surprising. from folks i spoke to on capitol hill involved in national security issues did not see susan collins going into that direction. susan collins is a moderate republican, not one to be known to be an obstructionist in any capacity. she was one of the primary sponsors of don't ask, don't tell repeal when that went through last year. so it's interesting to see susan colin goss on this line of attack saying she doesn't want to see the u.n. ambassador be a political spokesperson like susan rice was on the sunday shows. also opening up the new line of attacks when susan rice was in charge during the attacks in africa. that is something to a chill observer seems like okay, susan collins has done her research, that would be brought up in a confirmation hearing specifically saying why did you fail the country supposedly back in th

with ayotte and graham and mccain coming out to talk about the fact that they're meeting with ambassador rice leaves them scratching their heads and with more questions? of course people want more answers to what happened in benghazi, but it's not up to ambassador rice. she's not fronting the investigation. >> no, but she's been part of that team that went on those sunday shows to talk act those issues to say it was a video that caused this. whether it was the talking points or the intelligence, she's the one in front of the tv cameras that said this. this is an audition to be the country's top diplomat. she's going into a hostile group, we would want her to have a better relationship after, not worse. she had three senators she knew she wasn't in a great relationship with. they seemed to be more open to her over the weekend. she went into a meeting and made it worse. regardless of what you think about susan rice -- >> were they really going to listen to her and come out and be, like, oh, god, we love susan rice now? i don't think that was ever going to be the backside of that meeting. >> no.

the defense from the white house, despite her sitting down with republicans john mccain, kelly ayotte and senator lindsey graham, it looks like that meeting at least from her point of view was unsuccessful. here is what those republicans had to say after their meeting. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. concerning evidence that is overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulate. >> clearly the impression that was given of the information given to the american people was wrong. in fact, ambassador rice said today absolutely it was wrong. >> so key republicans not convinced. but top democrats like harry reid coming to her rescue saying, and i'm quoting here, the personal attacks against ambassador rice by certain republican senators have been outrageous and utterly unmoored from facts and reality. today she's back on the hill, meeting with the head of the homeland security committee saying she's not sure they have 60 votes to confirm her if, in fact, she's nominated. lynn >>> well, jill kelley, the tampa socialite caug

cain, lindsey graham from john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte after their meeting with ambassador rice. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than before. >> i'm more troubled today. >> senator mccain's embarrassing past with libya includes a meeting in tripoli in 2009 with gadhafi to discuss the possible delivery of military equipment to that dictator at his side at that meeting, as usual of course, was lindsey graham. also joining him was senator joe lieberman. today sh after meeting with ambassador rice, joe lieberman chose not to join the baseless criticism of ambassador rice. >> based on what she has said as clearly as possible, backed up by the director of the cia, i think it wouldn't be fair to disqualify her based on what she said. >> ambassador rice released this statement after meeting with the republican senators. while we certainly wish we had >> ambassador rice released this statement after meeting with the republican senators. joining me now, msnbc's karen finney and howard fineman. howard, what is your

, mccain, graham and ayotte. >> don't we all have the responsibility before we go out and talk to the american people on all five sunday morning shows for verifying those facts are true? >> the most basic information about what happened on the night of the attack, and what survivors had to say after the attack is not being provided and we'll talk more about that. bill: so you wonder then whether or not they will get the answers they're looking for. whether or not some of these questions will lead to even more questions. they will sit down in about 20 minutes from now. kelly wright is live in washington there. kelly, you're covering this morning. what is the expectation from this meeting on the hill? >> reporter: the expectations bill, they will get down to the bottom of this. at least that's what they will try to do. that is the most fundamental thing to these republican senators. they want to find out exactly what susan rice knew, before, during and after that attack. she has emerged, by the way as a frontrunner and possibly being nominated for secretary of state. if so, she w

ayotte. she went to address concerns they have over statements the ambassador made over the u.s. mission in benghazi on september 11th that left ambassador chris stevens and three other americans dead. i want you to listen to what senator graham, republican south carolina, here, said immediately after the meeting ended. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think does not do justice to the reality at the time, and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. but here's the key. in real time, it was a statement disconnected from reality. >> and now here is senator ayotte. >> i want to say that i'm more troubled today, knowing -- having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice, because it's certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy. and clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people, was wrong. in fact, ambassador rice said today, ab

. it's sur just, megyn. they had that initial ferocious opposition by lindsey graham and kelly ayotte and john mccain, a big press conference and really took a stance. the administration decides to send her up to try to repair things. they come out of the meeting, she obviously didn't graduate from any washington charm school, because even kelly ayotte it looked like they had just lost their best friend after that meeting. they were not happy. then there is another round of meetings and cork eri corker is saying he should withdraw the nomination. megyn: he said she would make a better dnc chair, that is debbie wasserman schultz job. >> it seems like a classic obama set up of the republicans. this is a way to bring up the whole war on women, meaning that republicans really don't understand women, look they don't have any female chairmen of their committees on capitol hill. they didn't get any of the female vote, and they just don't get it. they are doing this to this poor woman, and she is a great person and a great public servant. to me it seems like there is a political reason for co

, senators lindsey graham and kelly ayotte. they've been conciliatory gestures on both sides the past few days. >> i do think that some of the statements he made about me have been unfounded, but i look forward to having the opportunity at the appropriate time to discuss all of this with him. >> i give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took, and i'll be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her. >> in one sign of the seriousness with which the white house takes rice's defense acting cia director mike morell will accompany her on those senate meetings. remember it's mike morell who wrote the unclassified talking points from the intelligence community that rice was briefed on to use publicly for the sunday talk shows. last night on fox news graham said he intends to ask rice some very direct questions. >> she asked to meet with us, and i will listen to what she has to say about her role in benghazi. i can tell you this, the more i know about benghazi, the more upset i am that the consulate was even open on september 11. the more

mentioned, while senators graham, ayotte and mccain are focused on what susan rice, ambassador rice said on the sunday talk shows, they are not asking any questions at all about the real questions about security there at the consulate in benghazi. that's where their interest and focus and ire should be pointed. not at a u.n. ambassador who went on the sunday talk shows as a spokesperson for the administration giving, imparting the information she was given by the intelligence community. >> and susan, for those just joining us. this happened moments ago in the last hour. i want to remind everyone what the three senators had to say. take a look. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think, does not do justice to the reality at the time. >> clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people was wrong, in fact, ambassador rice said today abs

of the things that sounded interesting from senator ayotte is that based on her comments, she seemed more concerned about what she heard from the acting c.i.a. director, mike morrell than -- she named him first and susan rice was almost an afterthought. i wonder if that was what was disturbing to senator ayotte or any of the other senators. >> eliot: that might be more legitimate although the c.i.a. if you listen to david petraeus said we knew this was not a spontaneous revolt or spontaneous eruption and therefore our information -- look, this will continue for some period of time. let's switch gears a little bit to what's going on in egypt. which seems to be sort of gripping us at an international level. morsi on one day is a hero. he's brokered a deal. the second day he's under assault by the very people in the street who swept him into power. how do you assess what's going on and our capacity to nudge him toward maintaining a democratic framework? >> the nudging is being done by members of the international monetary f

of her most outspoken critics, republican senators john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte to set the record straight. rice had gone on five sunday talk shows days after the attack and called it a spontaneous demonstration sparked by an antimuslim film and did not mention the link to al qaeda. after all this taking on her critics, the republican senators weren't impressed. >> bottom line, i'm more dist b disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think does not do justice to the reality at the time and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. >> rice maintains she did nothing wrong. issuing a statement saying we stressed that neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage of this process. peter brooks is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, general wesly clark and, of course, former democratic presidential candidate. senator mccain was asked who do you blame more at this point? ambassador rice or president obama? he says

being made by mccain, by lindsey graham, and by senator ayotte of new hampshire is that this ambassador to the u.n. went on all the national shows, including "meet the press," in mid-september and basically tried to delay the news because it would get out eventually, that it was al qaeda that launched this attack. does that pass the smell test? that somebody would knowingly do that knowing the truth would be coming out in a matter of days? >> they still don't know who was responsible. there are links to al qaeda, they say, but links is a broad word. those links can take many forms. i think this is all a political red herrings. >> you're with tom ricks on this one. >> the main question is why was the consulate in benghazi still open when the administration, when even the ambassador acknowledged that the threats against the united states was rising and security was -- >> and the answer could be we had cia agents in that area -- >> absolutely. >> -- that needed to be protected. ambassador susan rice met with her strongest critics on capitol hill today to answer questions about benghazi, an

in most parts of the middle east. >> the republicans senators mccain and ayotte will drill down and find out what happened and critics are tough on rice. but the white house is continuing to show strong support. >> ambassador rice has done an excellent job at the united nations and highly qualified for any number of positions in the foreign policy arena and i will leave it at that. >> today's meeting place between ambassador rice and her staunchest critics on capitol hill. after his reelection president obama took exception to republican senators critical of rice saying if they want to come after anyone they should come after me. >> gretchen: we remember that. why is no one talking about susan rice, she went out on the talk shows and got the talking points from the white house and said what they wanted her to say. >> brian: she said the intelligence. >> gretchen: that's why she would be secretary of state. she did what she was asked to do and did it well and it worked with the electorate you could argue and now she will be secretary of state. what is going to stop it? >> steve: not neces

.s. consulate in benghazi. rice will sit down with senators john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte. >> that should be fun. >> that could be really awkward. they all accuse her of misleading the country in her initial account of the attack. in recent days, senator mccain has softened his criticism, and rice insists that she was relying on talking points from the intelligence community. last night senator graham rejected her defense but says he's open to today's meeting. >> she asked to meet with us, and i will listen to what she has to say about her role in benghazi, but i can tell you this. the more i know about benghazi, the more upset i am that the consulate was even open on september 11th. when you look at the history and the reporting coming out of libya about the dangers, it should never have been open or heavily reinforced. after the attack, i think the story we were told about a spontaneous event caused by video where a mob turned into a riot is less credible than ever. >> smart of her to call the meeting. acting cia director michael morrell will accompany rice during today'

. here is senator ayotte. >> we know from previous information that the class need talking points said clearly that al-qaida -- individuals associated with al-qaida, or with ties to al-qaida r- were involved in the attack. that was then omitted from the unclassified talking points. she had reviewed the classified talking points. when you look at what she said cbs, face the nation, also on "meet the press," not only was that piece omitted, also she said that al-qaida was decimated. martha: this is a new report that claims that benghazi was not the only al-qaida-linked terror attack on september 11th. were some of those other attacks al-qaida inspired or linked. that is a big tor story we are pursuing. we are joined by peter king. chairman of the homeland community. good to see you. >> good to be with you. martha: if susan rice is indeed considered for secretary of state we need to know where she stands on the issue of al-qaida and whether or not she believes that al-qaida is still a threat, is a growing threat. she says they were decimated. perhaps that is the most important thing that

joins senators mccain and kelly ayotte in going further. saying we urge president morsi to act swiftly to stop the smuggling of weapons to extremists in gaza and sinai. which is a threat to egypt's own sovereignty, stability and national security. now two months after the president stopped short of calling egypt an ally, top officials here say they believe so far morsi shown himself to be someone they can do business with. they realize inside the white house the cease-fire may not hold. they may need morsi's help again very soon. shannon? >> shannon: much more with the panel coming up. ed, thank you. those braving the shopping odyssey as black friday may have more crazy to deal with than usual because the labor organizers pick that day to make a point in front of the largest possible audience. chief washington correspondent james rosen explains. >> black friday, a third of americans shop online or brick and mortar stores should prove dark indeed for the country's largest retailer wal-mart. many of the company 1.4 million employees are set to picket outside 1300 wal-mart stores. followi

. senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte say they're even more troubled now after meeting with ambassador rice. the attack on libya on september 11 killed the u.s. ambassador, cries stevens and three other americans. five days later, ambassador rice went on the sunday talk shows and said u.s. officials believed it was a spontaneous reaction to protest over an anti-islam video. not a preplanned terrorist attack. first the controversy was over whether the white house made the change in the talking points. but that's past because intelligence officials say they gave ambassador rice those talking points. today senator graham called the information disconnected from reality. >> not only is the information bad and i'm more convinced than ever that it was bad, it was unjustified to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice and president obama three weeks before an election. >> shepard: rice said while we wish we had had perfect information, just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. neither i nor anyone else in the

the benghazi attack. senator john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte of new hampshire met privately with her today. it did not go well. listen. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. information given the american people was wrong. ambassador rice said it was wrong and to be clear, if you are an ambassador to the united nations you go well beyond the unclassified talking points in the daily preparation for that job. >> we are significantly troubled by the answers that many got. some we didn't get. >> she had no intention to mislead the american people. >> the white house blames the critics. listen. >> the focus on some might say the obsession on comments made on sunday shows seems to me and to many to be misplaced. >> the national shows get too much attention. are you surprised that ambassador rice didn't have a better explanation for her interview? >> dana: i got home last night and checked e-mail for the last time and saw she will have a meeting. i said they have it wrapped up. go in and smooth it over. you should have these things organized before you go to a meeting. y

graham, john mccain, kelly ayotte who said we respectfully disagree with the white house statement that there are no unanswered question about ambassador rice's sunday appearance. they talk about the acting director of the c.i.a. saying that the c.i.a., the f.b.i. removes the references to al-qaeda in the talking points. to ple vent compromising and ongoing criminal investigation. they say, the senators say at 4:00 this afternoon, the c.i.a. officials contacted us and indicated that the acting director morrell misspoke in the earlier meeting and the c.i.a. says it deleted the al-qaeda reference, not the f.b.i. and unable to give us a reason why. one thing also about the al-qaeda being taken out, it was not just the five sunday shows blaminth spontaneous demonstration there wasn't, never a demonstration. susan rice said this. >> president obama said running for president he'd row focus our effort on al-qaeda. we decimateed al-qaeda. usama bin laden is gone. we decimateed al-qaeda. usama bin laden is dead. he said that al-qaeda was decimated in both interviews so that was a misleadin

republican leaders. rice met privately with senators mccain, graham and ayott yesterday they say she misled the public. in the days following rice placed blame on an anti-muslim video the administration said it knew the attack was the work of terrorists. >> concerns i have are greater today than they were before. we are not even close to getting the basic answers. >> the focus on some might say, obsession on, comments made on sunday shows, seems to me, and to many, to be misplaced. >> president obama has not yet announced who he will nominate for secretary of state. >>> 6:18 in the bay area time for a look at our weather forecast and heavier rain two hours from moving in, don't worry it will come. >> i'm a little more worried from friday maybe about friday. >> that's right, that system is going to bring the heavier rain look at this wind now the system saturday night into sun , live look outside you can see the camera shaking winds 30 to 40 miles an hour, -- wind advisory for the entire bay area high wind warning along the coast. we are seeing heaviest rain confined to sonoma county, that's

lawmakers. rice met privately yesterday with gop senators mccain, graham and ayotte. they say she misled the public about the deadly attack on the consulate in benghazi after the attack, rice placed blame on an anti-muslim video the administration later said it knew the attack was the work of terrorists. >> concerns i have are greater today than before we are not close to getting the basic answers. >> the focus on some might say obsession on comments made on sunday shows, seems to me, and to many, to be misplaced. >> president obama says he hasn't decided who he will nominate for secretary of state. if it is rice, there could be a fight. it appears she would have the number of votes to be confirmed. >>> yahoo's ceo meyer is meeting with president obama at the white house today, part of a ceo roundtable to help the president avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. if there is no deal we will all see tax hikes and government will cut spending beginning january. president obama has also called apple's ceo cook to get his input. >>> 5:17. first of a series of storms is arriving in the bay area now

meetings with senators mccain and graham and ayotte created more questions than answers. ambassador susan rice taking her case to two more republicans today. peter doocy has more. >> you are right, brian. ambassador rice will meet with susan collins from maine and bob corker from tennessee . ahead of his meeting that what worries him most about ambassador rice she may be more concerned about delivering the party line than pressuring the administration when it might be off base. three other republican senators met with the embattled ambassador and that meeting did little to quiet their harsh criticism of her job performance. >> i am more concerned than i was before that the 15th of september explan of how four americans died in benghazi, libya. >> why she wouldn't have asked i am the person who doesn't know about this and going on every show. it is not only the talking points unclassified but part of her responsibility as the ambassador . united nations she reviewed more than that. >> in a written statement she knows that the intelligence that she based her sunday swars on is wrong and the

with his shadow, lindsey graham, and their new third amigo, new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, they released a joint statement today, praising the cease-fire declaration, but then adding were for good measure, quote, what happens in the middle east will impact america's vital national security interests for the foreseeable future and stronger, smarter american leadership is desperately needed. smarter leadership! take it from john mccain. remember, john mccain's big idea on foreign policy at the moment is that we should not have a secretary of state at all right now. john mccain suggesting that he will personally block anybody from being confirmed as secretary of state in the second term of the obama administration, because according to john mccain, u.n. ambassador susan rice, who's a likely candidate for secretary of state, she once said something wrong on the sunday shows. in the days after the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, back in september, susan rice went on the sunday shows and gave the administration's intelligence agency-approved talking points, explaining

of maine as well as wisconsin' ron johnson, mark kurt, rob portman, pat toomi, marco rubio and kelly ayotte. nevada's dean heller was the only to win in a blue state in the 2012 cycle. he narrow will he won over shelly berkeley despite the president winning the state by six. they have a none of the above. susan collins was the only other senator on the list to face voters while president obama was on the ballot. she won her third it term in 2008. the other seven were all elected or re-elected in the big republican wave of 2010. could republicans take back some of that territory in 2014 is this joining me now political analyst and editor and publisher of the cook political report, charlie cook. charlie, we have a senate announcement today. this is happenstance. we planned this last week and we can talk about 2014 and jay rockefeller. >> at least shelly capito had the decency to wait until after thanksgiving. >> mike brown announced two weeks ago he was running in 2014. >> see, i wasn't paying attention then. >> fair enough. is this all chalked up to bad recruiting by the republicans, the suc

and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. >> sreenivasan: graham, along with senators mccain and ayotte, have said they'll oppose rice if she's nominated to be secretary of state. but independent senator joe lieberman also met with rice today, and he said he was satisfied with her explanation of events. >> i found her statements to be significant. she was just as clear and absolute as she could be that she based her testimony and her statements on sunday morning television on the talking points that she got from the intelligence community. >> sreenivasan: president obama has strongly defended rice. and a white house spokesman today criticized what he called the republican "obsession" with her initial statements on benghazi. protesters in egypt staged nationwide rallies today against egyptian president mohamed morsi and his muslim brotherhood. in cairo, more than 100,000 people filled tahrir square to condemn morsi's decree that makes his decisions immune to judicial review. earlier, there were clashes between protesters and police. the rallies were some of the largest since the overthrow of p

, will meet with mccain, senators lindsey graham and kelly ayotte on capitol hill. now that mccain is open to the idea of hearings from rice, he's allegedly and he's alleging a white house cover-up on the matter, of course, a narrative already being pushed big-time on fox news. fox of course, has devoted countless hours of air time to the benghazi storybooking guests to channel the conspiracy theory. but today something rare happened. fox news invited pulitzer prize winning journalist thomas risk to share his thoughts about the whole thing. he reports the truth for a living. needless to say his interview was cut short. >> senator john mccain has said in the past he would block any attempt to nominate susan rice to become u.n., i'm sorry, secretary of state. she's currently the u.n. ambassador. he seems to be backing away from that. what do you make of it? >> i think that benghazi generally was hyped by this network especially and that now that the campaign is over, i think he's backing off a little bit. they're not going to stop susan rice from being secretary of state. >> when the you the

. there are unanswered questions. i think john mccain, lindsay gram, kelly ayotte understand it was not susan rice's responsibility but she was the one -- even though she had nothing to do with it, the administration sent her out to paragraphrot talking points that were inaccurate. there were breaches of security, pleas for help that went unanswered, breaches of protocol and four dead americans that were representing all of us. what john mccain and lindsey graham wants are answers. today is a good path, good step toward getting some answers and a step in the right direction. >> so, maria cardona, our democratic strategist, we just had an election. people want democrats and republicans to get along. susan rice clearly is embattled, the source of controversy. should president obama still nominate her as his secretary of state? >> i think he should, if that's what he believes is the best thing for the country. look, she has been an outstanding public servant both at the u.n. and serving under the clinton administration in a national security role. there's no question about that. and i think what -- i

inhofe, ayotte, brown of massachusetts and webb. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent that senator boxer also be allocated five minutes to speak on the pending amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: are we going to the voice vote at this time before -- mr. levin: could i ask the senator frommen montana, he wishes to speak on the udall amendment? mr. baucus: yes. mr. levin: i ask there be no further debate -- you're not ready? okay. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: i thank my good friend from michigan and arizona for their gracious willingness to provide an opportunity for me to make a brief statement. mr. president, i am in strong support of the amendment to protect the military's ability to purchase american-made fuels. powering our military with american military makes our country safer and our economy stronger. tying our hands a

and kelly ayotte. and those meetings as we first reported to you yesterday did not appear to go very well. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with more. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. ambassador rice is meeting two more republicans senators bob corker and susan collins. you're looking at stakeout position on capitol hill. ambassador rice is expected to meet with six senators. if she is nominated as next secretary of state she will need six republicans to vote for her to region the magic number of 60 for confirmation. so far republicans are not convinced. >> yesterday in talking to some of those to whom she talked i'm absolutely convinced in my mind bill, she is part of the cover-up. she knew all the time the cia information that was given to her. >> reporter: senators graham, mccain and ayotte tellingers after yesterday's meeting that the information let them more disturbed and not reassured about rice's benghazi comments that which portrayed the a tack as a demonstration that spun out of control. cia director mike morrell with rice for the meetings

. senators ayotte, graham and mccain, republicans who had from the get-go before they talked to her vowed -- or threatened to block her nomination. so that was one thing. today is different because that senator you just played, susan collins, is among the last remaining moderate republicans here. she does have a lot of information about what happened because she is the top republican on the homeland security committee, and she actually has a history of supporting susan rice. she was the one who introduced susan rice when she was at her confirmation hearing for the post she's in now as u.n. ambassador. so the fact that susan collins even has questions, i asked her point blank if she could support rice for secretary of state, and her answer was not yet. she has to have other questions answered. that's not a good sign for rice, but we should underscore a couple of things. one, she hasn't been nominated yet. and, two, she -- rice does have a lot of support from democrats who still have the majority. the issue is whether or not she'll need, if she's nominated, 60 votes to get confirmed. >> wha

closed doors with three of her most vocal critics, republican senator john mccain, kelly ayotte and lindsey graham talking behind closed doors to discuss classified material. the acting director of the cia, mike morel, is helping her answer questions and will accompany her to other meetings on the hill this week. an aide to mccain tells cbs news that rice requested this meeting last week and it could be decisive. if she answers mccain's questions to his satisfaction, he says he would support her nomination. >> margaret, what do you think those questions will be from the senators that they want answered? >> reporter: charlie, there are a lot of them. specifically senator mccain has said he wants ambassador rice to explain why she did not mention that within 24 hours of the assault in benghazi that the intelligence community knew that there were links to al qaeda. as you remember, in five different television appearances, she said there was no evidence that the attack was preplanned. now senator mccain has said she misled the public. ambassador rice says she

. >> mccain has suggested that. hat but ayotte has not. this reminds you of, say, jesse helms who once put a blanket hold on all clinton ambassadors, on all 400 people at one point, because he wanted attention paid. senator shelby put a hold on tions from tfrom the obama administration based on a tanker senators say on thes say i'm going to put a hold to bang on the table. timee they serious about it, f thatg a hold on her nomination if that nomination comes? >> >> i thenk if they don't get the answers, they will. if they don't get the answers isy want. the question is whether they can get the answers. >> the president is off on a the pr trip trying to sell the ideas he wants. >> tax rates will go up for the wealthy and republicans say we voteever going to vote for thy.hing where tax rates will go cole, the wealthy. but congressman cole is a ed in acan in the house who has uggested a report in politico that maybe republicans should wy, okay, we'll let rates go up for the wealthy temporarily as part of a two-part deal. nd'll let those rates go up at his argu have comprehensive tax reform. b

republicans first started her chief critics, senators mccain, graham, and eyo eyout ayotte, they said they didn't think it was even remotely possible for republicans to -- especially in the words of this one source, old white men to block the nomination of an african-american woman. they didn't think that was plausible. a few weeks later hearing from other republicans and doing the math, i'm not so sure that's true. i'm not so sure that it's true that democrats would be able to get the votes. but, again, that's why the susan collins' comment is so critical. as we talked about, she's one of the few remaining moderates and unlike other republicans who tend to get more political, she tries not to. >> dana, i've got to let you go. we're running out of time. any chance that susan rice would come back and talk to more republicans or is this done. >> reporter: we were told that she was going to have several meeting. i'm sure she would likely come back. >> dana, thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> after shelling out billions of dollars in fine, bp just got slapped with more tough news. it

. rice will sit down with senators john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayott. in recent days, senator mccain has softened his criticism as rice insists that she was relying on talking points from the intelligence community. last night, senator graham rejecting her defense but says he's open to today's meeting. >> she asked to meet with us and now we'll listen to what she has to say about her role in benghazi. the more i know about benghazi, the more upset i am that the consulate was even open on september 11th. when you look at the history and the reporting coming out of libya about the dangers, it should never have been open or heavily reinforced. after the attack, i think the story we were told about a spontaneous event caused by video where a mob turned into a riot is less credible than ever. >> she reportedly called the meeting. seems like a smart move. what do you think? >> well, i think it's a smart move for john mccain to take the meeting. they're boxed in. this is not a fight they want right now. it was a stupid fight to pick. they put themselves into a corner and now they've

more upset? i spoke to senator ayotte, she said when you are in a position of in her words, significant response as susan rice was, that she has a responsibility to ask more questions before she goes out and gives the public what we know are -- were misleading -- misleading information about what really happened in benghazi. that's the crux of the reason why these republican senators are more upset. i've been doing reporting sense this meeting and the source i spoke with, familiar with the meeting, said a couple of things. one, she did have -- she admitted she did have the classified information, never mind what she said in an unclassified way, of course, in public, which is that extremists elements were involved but she did have the classified information that the intelligence community was given which is that al qaeda very much could have been responsible for this. and yet, she did go out publicly and say that the obama administration decimated al qaeda. that's something that rubs these republican senators the wrong way. i will tell you what she told them, i'm told, inside the classif

angered john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte for her initial comments made on several tv networks that seemed to play down the role of al qaeda terrorists on the attack in benghazi, libya. that attack killed four americans, including u.s. ambassador chris stevens. rice maintains that she made it very clear, the intelligence information she had at the time was preliminary. senators are threatening to block her nomination if president obama chooses her to be his next secretary of state. >>> president obama and vice president joe biden will meet with mexico's president-elect today. pena kneeate toe has a new message. in an editorial in "the washington post" he said the u.s./mexico relations need to go beyond drugs and security concerns. topping his list, deepening economic ties with the united states. >>> the remains of former palestinian leader yasser arafat were exhumed this morning from a mausoleum in the west bank. many palestinians believe that arafat was poisoned by israel when he died in 2004. now, an international team of scientists will analyze tissue samples to see if they

cain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte say they are more troubled now than before they had that meeting and all indications are they are still against the president's nominating rice for secretary of state. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> apparently she misled the american public. i think that she would say that. she'd have to say that. >> cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott is live in washington. really nice to see you elise. why are rice's critics saying they are more concerned now? >> well, zoraida, they're concerned because it turns out that there was some information in classified settings that ambassador rice told the senators about that did indicate that al qaeda possibly was involved, that this could be a terrorist attack. and when she sat down with those senators yesterday, what she said was that there were unclassified talking points provided by the cia that just talked about this so-called spontaneous protest. but at the same time, ambassador rice, as a mem

with senators mccain, graham and kelly ayotte saying in part in the course of the meeting we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community and the initial assessment upon which they were based were incorrect in the key respect. there was no protester demonstration in benghazi. while we certainly wish that we had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. we stressed neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage in this process. and administration updated congress and the american people as our assessments involve. -- the fall. that's a statement from a ambassador rice. >> negotiations continue with president obama and congressional leaders about the fiscal cliff. we took your phone calls this morning on "washington journal" about that. >> host: at the daily news conference at the white house, jay carney, the spokesman there was asked about liberals who are advocating going off the so-called fiscal cliff. here's what he had to say

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